


Echoes of a Guiding Star

by Autumn - Gaia (GaiaMaiden)



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:41:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23726992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GaiaMaiden/pseuds/Autumn%20-%20Gaia
Summary: One star, two storytellers, and the ties that bind them...A short story I imagined about Autumn's ties to Emet-Selch and her past life :D
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

Darkness blanketed the Crystarium once more in its gentle embrace; a stark contrast to the on-goings of the world abroad.

Events that did not take long to reach the ever hopeful citizens; some traders had already begun to spread the news of the return of the night to Amh Araeng within the Wandering Stairs, over mugs of ale and roasted chicken. Such celebrations had already begun to fade into the night however, as the late hour called many and more to slumber.

The grass-lined pathways just outside the Musica Universalis had long since seen its last visitor to sleep. Only the noises of the sprinklers raining down upon the garden plots served to otherwise disturb the quiet of the night.

That, and the ambling footsteps of a single man, dressed in a noticeably regal ensemble of black and red.

His name was Solus Zos Galvus, though this name carried no weight in this pale imitation of the world; its title carrying as much worth here as the wind in the air. Yet, even fewer would know the true implications of his actual title: Emet-Selch. None, save a small smattering of adventurers who had just returned from their most recent triumph.

As much as the night’s return gave him a sense of annoyance, he could not help but find some comfort in the environment around him. It was certainly an improvement over the glare of the light-filled sky that hung over the land until recently. The return of the night also forced many indoors during the late hours, their eyes unsuited to navigate the darkness that now shrouded the walls of their refuge... meaning there would be less curious eyes wandering about, inquiring into the strange man that haunted their halls.

It was just him, and his thoughts. As it often was. As it often would be....

He had lost track of how long he had been walking around exactly. Not that time really carried much meaning to him. Perhaps not long or late enough, however, as the figure of someone had just come into view. A haggard sigh escaped him as he contemplated simply walking back the way he came, but the glimmer of the figure’s soul caught his eye just as he moved to turn around. It was… blinding, if nothing else.  _ There could only be one person in this broken world that could possibly have a soul like  _ **_that_ ** _ right now _ , he thought to himself.

The Ascian approached the figure at the same slow pace he was enjoying moments ago. Sure enough, his suspicions were well founded, as the familiar appearance of a white and yellow garbed elezen woman eventually came into view: The Source’s Champion and the latest (and most bothersome) of Hydaelyn’s toys. She sat upon a large stone in the garden, with her back to him and her gaze pointed far into the night sky. She gave no notice to the encroaching man, even as he arrived at a position just behind her.

At first, he simply observed the ‘hero’: she looked as though she was… looking at something amongst the stars. Her face portrayed little emotion, as if she had been entranced by the celestial bodies above.

He looked upward to see if something had caught her eye, only to be greeted by the same boring sky he had always seen. No racing meteors, no odd streaks of color, just the black night and the same blanket of stars one would always expect.

He shifted back to the woman in front of him, who wore the same blank expression as before. He looked back to the night sky, then once more to the woman.

His curiosity gave way to annoyance.

“...What  _ are _ you doing?”

~~

The pointed query broke Autumn out of her heavenward vigil, though the appearance of someone at such a late hour proved enough of a shock alone. Her startled expression soured quickly however, as she turned to face the source of the intruding voice. “...Kinda wondered where the hell you went”, she muttered, before turning back towards the sky. “After you dropped that bombshell on us about Zodiark and Hydaelyn, you just kinda… disappeared. No snide remarks, no witty retorts, just… gone. Must have been a really good nap.”

“For your information, I’m not what you would consider a fan of that… amber  _ sandbox _ that some of you mortals dared to call a home. Do you have  _ any _ idea how much of a pain it is to get all the sand out of an outfit like this?” Emet-Selch hissed, while gesturing to his usual attire. “Not to mention that, unlike that forest, that desert has a rather crippling lack of shade. As I mentioned before, I do not enjoy having to deal with that much light, if I can help it.”

“Could have fooled me”, quipped Autumn. “Wasn’t that the whole reason you ever came here?”

Emet-Selch shot back a glare before shrugging off the question. “A necessary evil, I assure you. But since you brought up my sleeping habits, let me ask you this: Aren’t  _ you _ normally sleeping right about now? I imagine your friends currently are.”

Autumn reflexively looked down while letting loose a haggard sigh. “...I can’t sleep, okay? Surely the all-mighty Emet-Selch has heard of insomnia? This isn’t the first night I’ve ever had to deal with it, and it tends to happen more when I get too worked up or anxious about… stuff.”

“Oh? Now whatever could trouble one as mighty as you? Was it what I told you and yours back in that cave? Or could it be something more…  _ physical  _ in nature?” He leaned forward, his tone sounding innocent, though Autumn had the unshakable sense that she was being mocked.

“Just… leave me alone, okay? I’m not in the mood.”

“But you haven’t answered my first question!”

“Ugh… what then?”   
  
“What  _ are _ you doing?”

“I’m-!” Autumn paused before shooting another glance towards the sky. “Well… technically speaking, I’m stargazing. To be more accurate though, it’s more that I’m… looking for something.”

Emet-Selch shot a confused look at Autumn, but gave no real response to the statement, so Autumn took it as a sign to continue.

”Ever since I picked up a bit of Sharlayan Astrology, I’ve come to learn a good number of things about the night sky and the various stars above. I’ve been told, however, that there’s a very important star up there that shines brighter than  _ any other _ star in the sky. One with an interesting story associated with it too!”   
  
Autumn slumped down slightly before continuing: “...For the life of me though, I have  _ yet _ to be able to pick it out from all the other ones. Every time I find a star that I think is the brightest, I get told I picked the wrong one. So, when I can’t sleep, I take another crack at it. It’s… oddly therapeutic.” She returned her gaze once more to the heavens, flashing a soft smile.

Her Ascian visitor, meanwhile, cocked his head to the side as he crossed his arms. “...An interesting story, you say?”

Autumn turned back to Emet looking slightly flustered, as if she had been put on the spot: “U-uh… well… g-given who and what you are, you probably know it already. Hells, you could probably talk circles around me, considering how long you’ve been around.”

A small chuckle escaped the man’s lips: “Humor me,  _ hero _ .”

Autumn answered with a shrug. “If you insist...”

The Elezen readjusted herself on her makeshift seat before beginning her impromptu story time.   
  
“Well, The star in question that I’m looking for has its importance tied back to the early days of exploration and travel in general. We’re talking back before tools like compasses existed and when maps were still kinda… either blank or inaccurate, I guess. I don’t quite know all the particulars, but I can give the important parts.”

Emet-Selch simply stood in front of her, his arms still crossed. If she was annoying him in some way, he was doing a good job at hiding it.

“Basically, back in that time, most people had to rely on either the sun’s position in the sky or major landmarks to make their way around safely. Nighttime made things rather difficult however, since there was no sun to work off of and the night had a habit of hiding things, assuming some freak weather event didn’t take things out beforehand.”   
  
“...like an Umbral Calamity, for instance.” She added; an admittedly rather cheap shot at her audience, to which he responded with sigh and an exaggerated rolling of his eyes.   
  
“This issue, though, was  _ much _ worse off when navigating on the high seas.  _ Especially _ on the open sea, when you had nothing save the sky to work off of. Things got so bad at times that ships just didn’t bother sailing at night, ‘cause more often than not, they would end up sailing in circles, or would go horribly off-course.”

“That didn’t stop people completely though; there was always money to be made from a good sale or two. These ships, however, typically just anchored themselves at night, assuming they could find an island or a shallow spot. Otherwise, they would let the waves take them and just correct things when the sun came back up.”

“It was during one of these nighttime voyages that a particular sailor made a rather curious discovery! The tale goes that he was one of the deckhands who had the night watch for the vessel he was on, and well… with nothing else to do on the ship, he took to stargazing to pass the time. He would do things like count the number of stars of a particular color, or work out patterns in the sky, like constellations, etc, etc. However, he started noticing on a particularly long voyage one particular star that shone brighter in the sky than any other; Considered it his ‘guardian angel’, since the voyage he was on was a very tame one in comparison to some of his other recent journeys.”   
  
“The shine, however, was not the curious part for him, it was the fact that he noticed that this star always seemed to shine in a particular direction in the sky! At first, he assumed he was just getting delusional and thought nothing of it. As time went on though, his curiosity got the better of him, and he would get to stargazing in a number of ports throughout the world. Sure enough, he found that the star always seemed to hang over the northern part of the sky.”

“Now, he didn’t do anything with this information at first; supposedly he believed that… well… no one would believe him. He got his chance though when he was part of a crew that was charged with transporting a time-sensitive cargo. I wanna say it was some kind of food that had a tendency to spoil very quickly, and the client was paying extra money because they were cutting the timing extremely close for… whatever reason, I assume they either procrastinated or it was some noble or someone looking to embarrass the captain.”   
  
“The time crunch basically made it a necessity for the ship to sail straight to the destination; no stops, no sidetracks, no delays. In other words, they had to sail through the night, and basically pray that they didn’t go off-course  _ at all _ . At first, the captain freaks out, thinking that failure was assured. That’s when the sailor told him about his discovery; of the guardian angel star that always hung in the north. He could keep an eye on the skies and keep track of the star at night, and that would allow them to keep sailing in the right direction, and ultimately, to their destination.”

“Now, the captain really didn’t have much of a choice, so they decided to just… go with it. Not like he had any better ideas, and he could just blame the sailor if it did end up failing. Thus, the ship would sail at full speed in the day and would slow down just before the sun went down. Once the stars showed up, the sailor would keep an eye on that star, and they would sail at full speed at night. Luckily for them, Fate was on their side, for they enjoyed strong & favorable winds and clear skies the entire voyage, and despite all odds, the ship managed to not only reach its destination, but with time to spare!”

“Obviously, everyone was just  _ shocked _ at all of this, save the sailor who found the star, of course. Curious to see if it was just blind luck that granted them victory, the captain decides to repeat this strategy of theirs on the following shipment. Sure enough, they arrive at their destination in record time a second time. Then a third. Then a fourth.”   
  
“..You get the idea, right?” Autumn waved her hand towards Emet-Selch, who responded in kind with a sly grin and another shrug.

“Soon, this captain and his crew become the talk of the figurative town. ‘ _ How was it that his ship could sail so fast? _ ’, people would ask. Some started rumors that he had struck a bargain with the Sahagin, or used some foul magicks to conjure winds and favorable water currents. At first, the crew just played things off, but when those rumors started to get louder and louder, they decided to let the cat out of the bag (in return for a payment, of course).”

“The news of this ‘Northern Star’ changed the world overnight. Suddenly, shipments that could take weeks to accomplish, if not months, were getting completed in a fraction of the time. This meant more goods could be shipped in general, especially things that spoiled or expired in short time periods. The discovery launched scholarly study into astronavigation, and, if some are to be believed at face value, ultimately served as the launching point for astrologian studies, including the Ishgardian kind that used stars to predict the future, and the Sharlayan study of the healing properties of said entities!”

Autumn gestured wildly as she spoke the last few lines, failing to contain her excitement on the subject.

“Anyways, as I kinda just alluded to, because of its specifically constant position in the sky, it was given its initial name of ‘The Northern Star’. A name that stuck for quite some time... until some self-righteous scholar demanded that ‘ _ such an important entity deserved a far more illustrious name _ ’.”

Sufficiently baited, Emet-Selch spoke his first words since Autumn launched into her story:   
  
“And that would be…?”

Autumn looked back towards the sky, her eyes locking on a bright, white star that hung directly overhead.   
  
“Polaris.”

She allowed the moment to sink in for a few seconds before continuing.

“Truth be told, I kinda wonder how they came up with a name like that. Maybe they were thinking about something in relation to it hanging over the North Pole… or maybe they imagined the star being a point of guidance for everyone, which is a fair way to name it, I suppose. Hells, maybe it was similar to one of their loved ones’ names. I don’t really know myself, what do you th-?”  


Autumn turned back to the Ascian, only to find an empty view where he once stood. She swiftly got up and gave a quick glance around the vicinity to see if he was still nearby, but saw no one in sight at all.  


She sat back down on the rock, a slightly dejected frown flashing on her face before she turned her gaze back up to the heavens once more.  
  
“Well…  _ I _ thought it was interesting…”


	2. Chapter 2

“...What does _my_ name mean, Hades?”

The sudden shift in conversation caught the black-robed man off-guard. Their conversation had started off as an innocent query on the nomenclature of the various concepts that were conceived on a daily basis. Some elected to keep things simple, and named their concepts directly after what it did, or what it looked like. Some, on the other hand, would take a far more roundabout approach and would use a more complicated and/or fancier name; One that carried the cruder-sounding meaning just beneath the surface.

Once he had made sense of the sudden query, Hades could not help but let out a playful scoff. ”My my, someone as bright as you doesn’t know about her own name?”

The black-robed woman seated on the bench near him flashed a scowl in response. “Don’t you start, you! It’s not like I haven’t _tried_ to find out… with what time I can spare between my research and concept creation anyhow.”

“Have you not asked your own parents?”, Hades quipped. “Normally _you_ are one who elects to take the direct approach whenever you can.”   
  
“For your information, I _have_ ”, she chided. “They would just... coddle me and endearingly call me their usual pet name for me. Since I was getting nowhere with them, I tried looking it up in various texts and concepts, but it has _nothing_ to do with magnets or anything related to the elements of earth or ice, so I just… gave up. It was becoming too much of a time sink.”

“Oh, my silly little star, you’re focusing far too much on the ground beneath your feet when you should be setting your gaze upon the night sky itself!” Hades extended out his arms towards the sky, as if presenting the heavens to the young woman for the first time.

“The… sky?” She queried, tilting her head in confusion. She looked at the man for a moment before turning her head towards the sky. Though the massive structures of Amaurot towered high above them, the celestial bodies up above were still very much visible from where they were.

She brushed back some of her dirty blonde hair before speaking anew: “Wait… were they being _literal_? It’s a star?”

“Not just any star, my dear!” Hades proclaimed, striking a flamboyant pose. “One of great importance, as a matter of fact!”

“Oh? ...How so?”

With the woman’s undivided attention, Hades moved in front of her, and began to speak.  
  
“Well you see… what I speak of involves a time long before the majestic Amaurot that you see here today. A time before all corners of this star had been mapped out, and before many of the concepts that we take for granted on a daily basis had even been imagined!”

“You see, travel back in those days was not as mindless as we know things now. One had to pay special attention to the world around them, in order to ensure that they arrived at their desired destination on time and in relative safety. Otherwise, they could end up horribly off-course and wander into some unknown town or fiend-infested den. Worse yet, some would end up traveling right back to where they started, throwing away weeks or months going in a gigantic circle.”

“Back then, we would use all sorts of items around the world to keep our bearings. Most would use the position of the sun in the sky, knowing that it always rose in the East and set in the West. Some, on top of that, would rely on special landmarks or otherwise unique phenomena to ensure that they still walked the right path… like a waterfall, or a peculiarly shaped mountain, for instance.”

“Such trifles were… manageable, but when one traveled upon the sea… well, things became quite a bit more difficult. Though the oceans themselves are a deep and wondrous world in and of itself, all we ever typically see are the same pulsing waves over and over again. A long way of saying that the ‘landmark’ approach was not an option. One could manage still with the sun, but once night came, even that option would be lost! As a result, many ships would go horribly off-course at times if they attempted to sail at night. Many would then stop their vessels and wait for the day’s return, but the ocean is ever moving, and who knows where it might push one if it was given the whole night to work with…”

He paused to steal a glance at his audience. The woman simply stared at him, seemingly engrossed in his story.

“Whatever then were our ancestors to do then?! Well, luckily for us all, salvation came at the hands of a lone wanderer with a penchant for stargazing, though they knew not initially how precious their discovery was. During their travels, they would spend many a night looking up at the heavens, watching comets streaking by, or drawing patterns out of the ebony canvas up above.”

“After a time, they came to recognize one particular star that always shone brightly in the sky; brighter than any other that they had seen beforehand. It was not just the shine that intrigued them, however, as they came to realize that, no matter wherever on _our_ star they wandered, they _always_ seemed to find this star shining from the same direction in the sky! ‘Twas as if that star was like a loyal pet, always appearing where their master would expect them to be. Their subsequent journeys would then carry with them a new ritual: when night fell upon the land, they would seek out their beloved friend, and would use it as a guide of sorts during the night, thinking that doing so would lead them to great fortune and favor. “

“The fateful day that would change both their life and our lives for the better came on one of their nautical journeys. Many days into its voyage, a rough storm had found the ship that he had obtained passage on one day, tossing and turning the vessels for several hours upon the open sea. The skies would soon part themselves to a serene night’s embrace, yet the storm below deck would not afford the passengers any rest. You see, the ship’s captain had agreed to take on a deathly ill patient, you see, and if they did not arrive at their destination soon enough, that person would surely have met their end. The poor invalid’s wife openly lamented their predicament. ‘ _Who knows where that storm has thrown us? There’s just no way to tell which is the way to go! My love is doomed~!’_ ”

“Oh, lemme guess!” the woman interjected, “The wanderer told the captain about the star!”  
  
“Exactly right, my dear!” Hades exclaimed. “At first he was unsure of the wanderer’s tale; of his watchful friend in the sky and what not. As I just alluded to, however, they did not have the luxury of time. They had to pick a direction to sail, and fast. The captain pinned his hopes on the wanderer’s faithful friend… and was rewarded handsomely for it. The ship used the star to sail eastward (or at least what they hoped was east) in a desperate attempt to reach the nearby continent. They did not find their intended destination, but they nevertheless landed in a town not too far from it; one that could at least keep the invalid from death’s door long enough to make him safe for travel once more.”

“News of the vessel’s good fortune soon spread like wildfire, and the gracious captain wasted no time in spreading the tale of the wanderer and his favored star to whoever was willing to listen. Though astrology was hardly a newly discovered discipline, the discovery of this special star, as well as the confirmation of its constant position over the northern pole of our world, launched a new wave of interest in the topic… and birthed no small number of rather vital inventions and concepts as a direct result!”

“The only thing that there was really left to do was to give that special star a name! Some more… simple-minded scholars… wished to just refer to it as ‘The Northern Star’. However, one noble soul spared the star such a dull fate by coming up with the (admittedly also unoriginal) idea of naming that star after its discoverer. After all, a star that would go on to guide not just that bygone age, but countless ones after it, deserved a far more meaningful name….”

Hades stepped closer to the woman, his finger dancing in front of her face. “And that name was…”

“Polaris…”, whispered the woman.

Hades leaned back, a satisfied grin on his face. Polaris took another look up at the sky, her eyes locking on a bright-white star shining just above one of the towering structures around her.

“...How interesting…”

“What _I_ find more interesting is how such a _supposedly_ bright star such as yourself took so long to learn this! Not exactly living up to your namesake right now, are you...”

Polaris glared daggers back at her smirking friend.  
  
“Must you _always_ vex me so, Hades?”

Hades threw up a shrug in response. “Come now, grant me _some_ fun, milady. That the Convocation would even cast its gaze upon you to begin with shows that you’ve certainly earned your place in the sky!”

Polaris gave off a meek scoff. “I… don’t think I quite deserve such an honor. Not unlike a certain someone here. Right, _Emet-Selch_ ?”   
  
The man’s unapologetic smirk transformed into the very picture of surprise. “Wha-?! Who told you?”

“Oh, just a little birdie~”, she chuckled, looking away with a coy smile.

“ _A little birdie_ , huh?” She needn’t say more. He could already imagine Hythlodaeus’s face, laughing to himself about the seed he had planted likely only hours ago.

“Congratulations, by the way! I’m not sure what prevented you from telling me earlier, but I’m nonetheless happy for you. In truth, it probably would have been more surprising to hear that someone else had been nominated instead.”

“I…” Hades turned away, attempting to hide his mounting embarrassment.

“Well don’t worry, we can celebrate another night.” Polaris forced back a small yawn before grabbing her staff and using it to help her off the bench. “For now, I shall settle with you walking me home.”

The man placed his red mask back on before issuing out a sigh. “Very well, my dear… Shall we be off?”

\--

Near the Crystarium aetheryte, Emet-Selch stood alone, with one hand propping himself against the wall, while the other covered his growing grimace.

“Of all the memories she could have dredged up…”

He would do nothing more however, no matter how painful the recollection was for him. He simply sighed, and began to move slowly down the nearby hallway, before disappearing into a black, swirling cloud...

==  
The End.  
==


End file.
